Power means everything. The struggle for power is always the main theme in life. Whether it be in books, films, games or relationships and most of all, in history. People spend lifetimes trying to attain as much power as possible. Kings and Queens, businessmen, teachers and even lovers. Power makes anything possible, it can be used for good or for bad. It can be abused and exercised as much or little as the user wishes. Power can bring wealth, property, items and even fear. I am not interested in that power however. I am only interested in the power that yields respect, responsibility and intelligence. I am concerned with the power of knowledge.
I have been studying abroad in England for a little over a month now and the most important thing I have gained has been the realization that knowledge is everything. I discovered a newfound love for my education and in gaining my British Studies minor here, the world has never made so much sense. There is a never ending amount of patterns in history telling tales of survival, inventions, law and order, human rights, and exploration.
The more I learn, the more I realize we are the most influential generation to ever walk this planet. We, more than anyone before us, have the resources, energy and reason to learn from history and make more of it than the centuries before us. Major historical events have hit humanity so hard they could not be ignored; they are studied and thrown in text books to be memorized by students and written papers about, but rarely are they appreciated.
For example, in 1872 women's suffrage became a national movement in Britain. They started with the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in 1897 which had to stay law-abiding and no party in order to stay "rational" in men's eyes. They held campaigns and peaceful protests to spread the cause. Ultimately, they got no where substantial. It wasn't until the Women's Social and Political Union came into action with their slogan, "Deeds not Words". They knew men didn't care about pamphlets and petitions, they need to see action and compassion, they became known as the Suffragettes.
They wore their colors proud, green for hope, white for purity and purple for dignity. Very similar to American women suffrage groups trading purple for gold which symbolizes the "flame of freedom's fires". They chained themselves to Parliament, slashed sexist paintings in museums with meat cleavers and went on hunger strikes in prison. The most brave suffragette I have come to known was Emily Davidson. In 1913 she strategically threw herself in front of the Kings horse as he rounded the corner at one of the biggest Horse Derbies in the country. Davidson was not only University educated, but had her masters as well, a rare thing for a women to have achieved in her time. She risked it all and slid under the rope into the path of sprinting horses to throw a purple, green and white silk scarf over the King's horse as it finished the race. Unfortunately, the collision killed her but her bravery and dedication to the movement is remarkable.
Every single human being is created equally, they deserve the rights and opportunities of any other person. To withhold rights is a detriment not only to the individual but to society as a whole. The women in Britain in the late 19th century knew they deserved more, they did not sit at home, watching the children and let the men handle politics. They did whatever it took. It is our job to learn from them, no one ever got their rights by quietly and politely asking.
On another note, I have come to learn how brainwashed society is. Orwell's 1984 is not fiction, it is very real. Distractions and persuasion dominate our culture. Many do not even notice, others do notice but like to live by the quote, "Ignorance is bliss". Why do you think the clown sightings, Drake's broken ankle and Trump memes are bombarding the news? Is anyone worried about the violence in Syria, Hispaniola's devastation from hurricane Matthew or the fact that uncivilized funding of blood diamonds is still occurring? We have been brainwashed to live in a 'needs and wants' consumerism. Everything is based off desires and feeding off those desires to distract us.
In 1952 Betty Crocker released their fully ready to cook cake batter. Nothing was to be added or done to the mix, just water and bake. Their sales plummeted downwards and no one could understand why. The reason was it intimidated women. By a ready to go cake, they felt it was not made by them, they lacked the self esteem of making their family a cake instead of some lady Betty doing all the work. So the company made one change that brought them to the success they still are today. Let the women add an egg. They took out the powdered egg to allow the woman to feel as though she prepared the cake herself. And it worked, shelves cleared. Pretty smart marketing or should we say brainwashing.
From studying here, I have been able to absorb the British culture as well as compare and contrast it from America's. While there are clown sightings and humorous presidential debates at home, the UK has the matter of Brexit on their minds.
Our generation, as well as ones before us, seem to be feeling very 'Anti-Politics'. Anti-politics means going against government and authority not because we don't agree, but because we don't trust our governments, we want change; we want to shake things up. This can explain why half the population voted to exit the European Union, and the next day the most googled term in the UK was "What is the European Union". Obviously the votes to leave were votes against British politics, not against leaving the EU.
This Anti-Politics attitude can also be explained in the US. How do most people explain their support for Trump? Some say, we need someone who will tell it how it is. We need someone who is not afraid to make moves and defend us and only us. Something different. They want politics to change, so why not vote for something crazy and out of norm.
In addition to this hunger for change, people's faiths have been faltering. Almost half of the population in Britain says they are not very religious or not religious at all. There are many other things more appealing on Sunday mornings than church. The same for America, more and more people state themselves as no religion on the census. Athletes refuse to stand for the National Anthem, churches and private schools are closing due to no funding, and religion is all too often linked with violence. I find interesting that in Britain's Parliament, there has always been, as still is today, a religious chair. Whose responsibility is to provide a moral standpoint into politics; to never lose sight of humanity. In America we are very stern about separating religion and politics, some for great reasons, others are debatable; however the purpose of Britain's religious chair is not to abide by a religion's rules, but to assure that the most basic human rights that are contained in every faith are taken into account.
With that said, there is no such thing as a Muslim terrorist, a Christian terrorist or a Buddhist terrorist. To be a member of any religion is the exact opposite of everything a terrorist is. As Dalai Lama stated at the European Parliament last month, “Any person who wants to indulge in violence is no longer a genuine Buddhist or genuine Muslim, because it is a Muslim teaching that once you are involved in bloodshed, actually you are no longer a genuine practitioner of Islam.” As this works for all religions around the world. So call extremists what you will, ISIS, Aum Shinrikyo, Al Qaeda and even the Klu Klux Klan should not be blamed on those who practice their faith in the way it was meant to be followed.
These are current events that we will be telling our children about, Brexit, 9/11 and global warming. These are occurring in our lifetime, in front of our eyes. They will be facts on a timeline that will be in textbooks to come. They will be subjects of essays and books being written as you read. As said before, knowledge is power. Without the Knowledge of the past, the world will never be able to have a successful future. Be educated, open your eyes, enlighten others, and be kind. Knowledge is a power that can be multiplied and shared, knowledge is not greedy it is not abused. It is the most powerful resource that grows by the millisecond.
One request to the generation whose time is almost now, do not ignore knowledge, embrace it.
